Poll: Are you going to give Alex McLeish a chance to prove himself?

[not3bad]

not 2 days ago everyone was set against this and now on radio and on here everyone is happy

I think to say everyone is 'happy' on here is stretching it a tad.

[PeterWithe]

The overwhelming majority were against him but as Villa supporters our natural inclination is to support the team, no matter what a pigs ear the board have made of the managers appointment. He'll need to win something to make him anything but unpopular but I'm not going to knock those trying to be optimistic about season ahead.

[eastie]

well done lads a great turn around in opinion and thanks for giving him a chance - well its been a long old season , let me wish you all a happy summer ahead and see you all again in august (or on the transfer thread).

[not3bad]

well done lads a great turn around in opinion

It's not like we have a choice is it?  It's either adapt or abandon your team.

[Risso]

I didn't want him and think it's an absolutely ridiculous decision, but now that he's here we're stuck with him.  Therefore I hope he does extremely well, just as I would if we'd appointed Trevor Francis or Paul tait, as the alternative is the Villa losing which none of us wants. 

Still a shit appointment though.

[not3bad]

well done lads a great turn around in opinion and thanks for giving him a chance - well its been a long old season , let me wish you all a happy summer ahead and see you all again in august (or on the transfer thread).

Enjoy your summer Eastie, and prepare to put your tin hat on when the 'told you so' brigade are out in force.

[avfcpg]

I didn't want him as manager but he's here, fixtures are out, transfer window is open and it's business as usual and clean slate as far as I am concerned. Whilst not by any means overwhelmed by the appointment, let's see what he can do. Now taken my "don't want him" hat off and put my Villa one back on. Feels a lot better.

Balls of steel, I'll give him that much.

[paul_e]

I want an option between maybe and yes.

He'll get until october if things start badly.  If by that point the results and more importantly performances aren't good enough then it'll be time to look elsewhere.  If his record was for getting teams to play good football he'd have more credit in the bank and I'd let bad results go a little longer (as with houllier last year).

His signings and selections in the pre season games will be important as well.  If he gets those wrong he'll have a hard job before a ball is kicked in the league as it won't take a lot for fans to jump on him.

[Drummond]

There were a lot of people who said they would not to renew their season tickets, I'm guessing only 7 so far are backing that point up by not giving him a chance?

[barrysleftfoot]

  1stly i did'nt want McLeish, but now hes here its time to move on and support the team.

  What i would say is that with all the background aggrovation, the petitons, demonstrations, grafitti, and overall negativity towards his appointment , if i was in his shoes there is no way i would have taken the job, but he did, because despite it all he wants to manage AVFC.Ok he is going to be well rewarded, but i think hes shown some bottle to accept the job,

[stubbsyandy]

avfcpg...well done sir!

[Villa'Zawg]

What a stupid question. Anyone with any kind of common sense would give him a chance!

That's just it. It isn't a stupid question given some of the anger shown against him leading up today, and even today. It should be a stupid question, but some people will turn on him with the first defeat predicting impending doom as early as August or September. I hope I am wrong, and people will be patient.

I once read an academic paper that suggested the appropriate period for a PL manager's "honeymoon period" should be 8 games. If they didn't attain a certain level of performance after that you were as well to get rid.

How long are you going to give him?

Not sure what the number is, but much longer than 8 games VD. Whoever wrote that paper is an idiot. I don't believe in honeymoon periods, I believe in giving someone a chance to establish themselves in a position, and have to time to influence those around them as to their beliefs and principles. Be it in business or football. Sport by nature is far more volatile and I get that, and even more so today with everyone having instant opinions patience comes at a premium.

We will all gauge his progress differently, and maybe 8 games will give us a chance to see what the future might look like. But it can never tell us the full story, and especially at the start of a season in a new job. In fact, if 8 games was any gauge, David Moyes would have been sacked several times over at Everton. Maybe I'll just look at things in 1/2 season increments for now.

He wasn't an idiot, I wouldn't have paid it any attention if he was. He just an academic who produced a simple (simplistic?) model for determining when was the best time to sack a manager. If I remember correctly, the purpose of the model was to assess the point at which performance drops below the acceptable level for clubs with different ambitions and facilities.

I understand that 8 games seems low but the average tenure for a PL manager is (was?) less than 18 months (50 games??). It's not impossible that 8 games is the optimum amount of time for the honeymoon period where sacking shouldn't be considered at all.

The point about Moyes doesn't apply because you don't reset the honeymoon period every season, you use a weighted average of his results since he took over.

[hilts_coolerking]

McLeish is a desperately poor appointment.  That's not his fault, it's Lerner's.

I see no reason to expect McLeish to change his methods so it's almost certainly going to be dour, safety-first, attritional football which will bring mediocre results.  But again, you can't blame McLeish for that - it's what he does.

My beef is with Lerner for appointing McLeish, not McLeish himself.

[Toronto Villa]

What a stupid question. Anyone with any kind of common sense would give him a chance!

That's just it. It isn't a stupid question given some of the anger shown against him leading up today, and even today. It should be a stupid question, but some people will turn on him with the first defeat predicting impending doom as early as August or September. I hope I am wrong, and people will be patient.

I once read an academic paper that suggested the appropriate period for a PL manager's "honeymoon period" should be 8 games. If they didn't attain a certain level of performance after that you were as well to get rid.

How long are you going to give him?

Not sure what the number is, but much longer than 8 games VD. Whoever wrote that paper is an idiot. I don't believe in honeymoon periods, I believe in giving someone a chance to establish themselves in a position, and have to time to influence those around them as to their beliefs and principles. Be it in business or football. Sport by nature is far more volatile and I get that, and even more so today with everyone having instant opinions patience comes at a premium.

We will all gauge his progress differently, and maybe 8 games will give us a chance to see what the future might look like. But it can never tell us the full story, and especially at the start of a season in a new job. In fact, if 8 games was any gauge, David Moyes would have been sacked several times over at Everton. Maybe I'll just look at things in 1/2 season increments for now.

He wasn't an idiot, I wouldn't have paid it any attention if he was. He just an academic who produced a simple (simplistic?) model for determining when was the best time to sack a manager. If I remember correctly, the purpose of the model was to assess the point at which performance drops below the acceptable level for clubs with different ambitions and facilities.

I understand that 8 games seems low but the average tenure for a PL manager is (was?) less than 18 months (50 games??). It's not impossible that 8 games is the optimum amount of time for the honeymoon period where sacking shouldn't be considered at all.

The point about Moyes doesn't apply because you don't reset the honeymoon period every season, you use a weighted average of his results since he took over.

It's measured 8 games of a PL football season that lasts 38, and you still have to throw in cup games which will influence peoples views. It's like saying you start a new job in a firm and within 2 months you need to know everyone, where everything is, who to ask when you have a problem, know your staff, get in the right staff, get rid of the bad staff, make sure everyone is happy and settled and pulling the right direction, and ensure that your business has gone in the direction that your supervisors and customers expect. It's completely unreasonable. Academic study or not. It doesn't work for football and it doesn't work in real life.

[DrGonzo]

Anyone who has voted 'no' might as well stop posting as they clearly want nothing to do with the club anymore.  I'm not impressed, but what choice do I have?  He'll get a chance and I hope he proves me wrong.